Work support for shoe presses



Aug. 21, 1956 J F SMITH ErAL 2,759,205 WORK SUPPORT FOR SHOE PRESSES Original Filed Dec. '7, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet l 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 J. F. SMITH ETAL WORK SUPPORT F OR SHOE PRESSES Aug. 21, 1956 Original Filed Dec. "I, 1953 l1g- 21, 1956 J. F. SMITH ErAL 2:759205 WORK SUPPORT FOR SHOE PRESSES Original Filed Dec. 7. 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Aug. 21, 1956 .1 F. SMITH x-:rAL 2,759,205

WORK SUPPORT FoP sHoE PRESSES 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Original Filed Dec. 7, 1955 Invezzow: Joh/1 Sin/'7%' and Fred Dau/Jon QM.

United States Patent WRK SUPPORT FR SHOE PRESSES John F. Smith, Braintree, and Fred Dawson, West Roxbury, Mass., assignors to Compo Shoe Machinery Corporation, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Delaware Original application December 7, 1953, Serial No. 396,516. Divided and this application March 23, 1955, Serial No. 496,272

9 Claims. (Cl. 12-123) This invention relates to presses in which press members are moved by Huid under pressure to apply pressure to work pieces, and relates more particularily to shoe presses in which pressure is applied to shoe soles for causing them adhesively to adhere to shoe uppers.

This application is a division of our copending application, Serial No. 396,516 which was tiled Dec. 7, 1943.

A feature of this invention is that means is provided in a shoe press for easy and rapid movement of a heel support and a toe support relative to each other, and together, for facilitating the handling of shoes having different lengths and shapes.

An object of this invention is to provide a shoe press which can quickly and easily be operated to handle different sizes and shapes of shoes.

Another object of this invention is to provide for easy and rapid adjustment of a heel and toe support relative to each other, and together.

This invention will now be described with reference to the annexed drawings, of which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a shoe press embodying this invention;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view along the line 3-3 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation, partially in section, of the mechanism for moving a heel support towards andV away from a toe support;

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view along the line 6-6 of Fig. 4, and

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view of the invention showing piping and controls for the press.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated by the drawings is a two station unit having a base 10 to which are supported a pair of shoe elevating cylinders 11 which contain ram pistons 13 to the upper ends of which the lower ends of guides 9 are attached by bolts. The members 15 which support pad boxes 14 are attached to the upper ends of the guides 9.

The shoe elevating cylinders 11 are connected by valves 41, piping 42, speed control valves 43, piping 44, pilot valves 45, piping 46 and lubricator 47 to the main air supply piping 38. The valves 41 have exhaust pipes 80 connected thereto.

The main air supply piping is also connected through the lubricator 47 to piping 48 connecting through treadle valves 49, piping 50, check Valves 51 and piping 52 to the cylinders 53 of the pilot valves 45, and through piping 54 and bleeder valves 55 to the piping 35 connected to the pad boxes 14. The foot treadles 70 are attached to the valves 49 which they open when depressed by an operator. x

The pilot valves 45 are also connected by piping 44 and 56, sequence valves 57, meter valves S8 and piping 59 to the air cylinders 60 of the pilot valves 36, and to bleed tubes 61 which connect through timing valves ice 62 with the atmosphere. Safety valves 63 are connected to the bleed tubes 61 at points between the timing valves 62 and the piping 59. The pilot valves 36 and 45 have exhaust tubes 65 and 66 respectively, connected to atmosphere.

A conventional Veeder Root counter 71 is connected through 72 and piping 73 to the piping 50.

The base 1? of the press has supported therefrom by rods an overhead framework 136 from which are supported the jacks 127, each of which comprises a heel support 128 and a toe support 129. The toe supports are attached to the lower ends of rods 138 which are threaded in sleeves 141 and are adapted to be rotated by the handwheels 131 for raising and lowering the toe supports.

The heel and toe supports can be moved quickly towards and away from each other, and can be moved together' longitudinally of the pads for facilitating the handling of many different sizes, lengths and shapes of shoes.

The heel supports 128 are attached to rods 134 which have threaded upper portions threaded in sleeves 133 to which handwheels 132 are attached for movement of the rods 134, and are keyed in the slide members 137 which have channel sections A. The inner portions of the slide members 137 have gear racks 126 attached thereto.

The upper portions of the sleeves 133 are flat and contact the flat under surfaces of the outer portions of frame members 136 which serve as guides and supports. The sleeves 133 have flat lower ends which are rotatably supported on the at upper surfaces of the slide members 137 around the rods 134.

The toe supports 129 are attached to threaded rods 138 which are threaded in sleeves 140 and 141 which are secured to slide members 142 which have inner portions which are slidably fitted in the channel portions 143 of the frame of the press. The rods 138 have handwheels 131 attached thereto for rotation of the rods. l

The slide members 142 have gear racks 145 attached thereto and which extend over the racks 126 parallel thereto. Spur gears 146 engage the racks 126 and 145, and are attached to rods 147 which extend through sides of the channel portions 139, and have handwheels 148 attached thereto for rotation of the gears 146. The sides of the gears 146 opposite to the handwheels 148 contact the adjacent ends of coiled springs 150 the other ends of which contact the inner surfaces of the other sides of the channel portions 139. The ends of the rods 147 opposite the handwheels 148 have the collars 144 thereon.

By pushing inwardly on the handwheels 148, the gears 146 can be moved inwardly out of mesh with the racks 126 and 145, the springs 150 restoring the gears to their meshed positions when the handwheels 14S are released.

A handwheel is secured to each shaft 161 which is threaded into one of the sides of a channel portion 139 as shown by Fig. 3. The inner end of a shaft 161 contacts a side portion 162 of a slide member 142 when the shaft 161 is rotated in a clock-wise direction, and clamps the slide member 142 in position.

By rotating a handwheel 160 in a counter-clockwise direction, its associated slide member 142. is unclamped and is free to move. By pushing in its associated handwheel 143, its associated gear 146 is unmeshed from its racks 126 and 145. Then, the heel and toe supports are freely movable towards and away from each other, enabling them to be quickly positioned for properly handling of a shoe to be cemented. A wedge 144 causes a toe support automatically to be lowered as it approaches. its` associated. heel support, and. vice versa. Then, when a gear 146 is meshed with its racks 126 and 145, its handwheel 148 can be rotated to move the heel and toesupportsv in unison longitudinally of a shoe` placed on a pad 14, for correct positioning of the two supports upon the shoe upper.

Operation of Fig. 7

In the operation of Fig. 7, one operator would handle the two stations as follows: Assume the left shoe press to be operated first so that the apparatus to the left of the center of Fig. 7 will be operated, a shoe assembly would be,r placed on the left pad box 14. At this time this pad box would be in its lowermost position for providing adequate space between it and its associated heel and toe supports to permit the quick location of the shoe assembly upon the pad. Adjustment of the heel and toe supports would then be made for accommodating the size and type. of shoe to be handled.

The operator would then depress the left foot treadle 70 following which the following sequence of operations would automatically occur, reference being made to the components of the left press station. Compressed air would be admitted by the valve 49 operated by the treadle, into the piping 50, and through the check valve 51 and piping 52 into the air cylinder 53 of the pilot valve 45, causing the valve 45 to open and admit compressed air supplied through the piping 46 to pass through the speed control valve 43 and valve 41 into the cylinder 11 of the shoe elevating press, causing the ram piston 13 to rise and move the pad box 14 with the shoe assembly thereon, upwardly until the shoe upper just contacts the heel and toe supports.

At the same time, compressed air would pass through the Valve 45, the piping 44, the delay valve 57 and meter valve 58 into the cylinder 60 of the pilot valve 36, causing the valve 36 to open and admit compressed air supplied through the valve 37 to pass through the piping 35 and 32 and inflate the pad in the pad box 14, causing it to move upwardly and to press the shoe assembly firmly against the heel and toe supports. The delay valve 57 would prevent the ination of the pad until after the air admitted into the cylinder 11 has moved the pad box to its upper position. The shoe pad remains in its inflated position for an interval determined by the setting of the timing valve 62. The valve 62 has a bleed port open to atmosphere and bleeds air from the cylinder 60 of the pilot valve 36 through the bleed tube 61. After the selected interval of time, the air bled from the cylinder 60 causes the valve 36 to close oil" the supply of compressed air from the valve 37, and to connect the piping 35 to the exhaust pipe 65. The compressed air in the shoe pad then leaks to atmosphere through the pipe 65, and the pad deates.

Air is also bled from the cylinder 53 of the pilot valve 45 through the piping 54 and bleed valve 55, and exhausts through the pipe 65 to atmosphere, causing the valve 45 to close off the supply of compressed air from the piping 46, and to connect the piping 44 with the exhaust pipe 66. The compressed air in the cylinder 11 then exhausts through the valve 41, speed control valve 43, piping 44, valve 45 and exhaust pipe 66 to atmosphere. When this exhaust action starts, the valve 41 which is a dump valve, connects the cylinder 11 with the exhaust pipe 80 through which the cylinder quickly exhausts. The ram piston V13 then moves downwardly carrying the pad box 14 with it, vand providing clearance below the heel and toe supports for easy removal of the cemented shoe.

The operator has only to place momentary pressure of the foot treadle 70 for tirst opening and then closing the valve 49 for causing the sequence of operations described in the foregoing, a slug of compressed air being sulicient to operate the pilot valve 36.

After momentarily depressing the treadle 70 of the left press, the operator can proceed to operate the other station by rst placing a shoe assembly upon the right pad, then depressingy the right treadle 7.0, and thereby causing. the right station to go through the sequence of operations described in the foregoing in connection with the left station. At the end of the second sequence of operations by the operator, the first station will have completed its sequence of operations so that it can again be set up to handle another shoe assembly, the two stations being placed alternately in operation, but both operating at the same time.

As each treadle 79, is depressed by the operator, it acts to admit a slug of compressed air into the counter 71 causing it to register the number of shoes handled by the press.

What we claim` as our invention, is:

1. A shoe press comprising a heel support, a gear rack attached to said support, a toe support, a gear rack attached to said toe support, a gear meshable with said racks, and means for placing said gear in mesh with said racks for causing upon rotation of said gear, said supports to move in unison, and for placing said gear out of mesh with said racks for permitting independent movement of said supports.

2. A shoe press as claimed in claim 1 in which a gear rotating member is attached to said gear, and in which the means for placing said gear in and out of mesh with said racks includes said member.

3. A shoe press comprising a heel support, a gear rack attached to said support, a toe support, a gear rack attached to said toe support, means including frame means for slidably positioning said supports, means for clamping one of said supports to said frame means, a gear meshable with said racks, said gear being rotatably supported by said frame means and being slidable along its rotary axis into and out of mesh with said racks, and means for placing said gear in and out of mesh with said racks.

4. A shoe press as claimed in claim 3 in which a gear rotating member is attached to said gear, and in which the means for placing said gear in and out of mesh with said racks includes said member.

5, A shoe press as claimed in claim 1 in which spring means is provided for resisting the disengagement of said gear from said racks.

6. A shoe press as claimed in claim 3 in which spring means is provided for resisting the disengagement of said gear from said racks.

7. A shoe press as claimed in claim 6 in which a gear rotating member is attached to said gear, and in which the means for placing said gear in and out of mesh with said racks includes said member.

8. A shoe press comprising a frame having a channel member, a heel support, a slide member attached to said support and slidably fitted in said channel member, a toe support, a slide member attached to said toe support and slidably fitted in said channel member, gear racks attached to said slide members, a gear meshable with said racks and rotatably supported from said channel member within the channel thereof, said gear being slidable along its rotary axis into and out of mesh with said racks, means for clamping one of said slide members to said channel member, and means for placing said gear in and out of mesh with said racks and for rotating said gear.

9. A shoe press as claimed in claim 8 in which spring means is provided for urging said gear into mesh with said racks.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,030,827 McFeely June 25, 1912 A1,146,303 Brogan July 13, 1915 `1,494,706 Polleys May 20, 1924 2,459,845 rSeely et al I an. 25, 1949 '2,650,380 Eppler, Jr Sept. 1, 1953 

